Fate/Zero – 13

Considering how Fate/Zero was originally slated for a contiguous six-month run, I wasn’t expecting the midpoint break to coincide with some finale-worthy material. However, I wasn’t expecting ufotable to leave off on a highly suspenseful cliffhanger either, which is downright cruel. The cynic in me doubts this was merely coincidental, as I can already picture the staff sitting around in a room and patting one another on the back for having viewers wrapped around their fingers. All I can do is just sit quietly and pretend that I don’t care for a bit before finally saying, “Damn it.”

I’m (half) joking of course, because I honestly would’ve been okay with an episode full of characterization, followed by a bunch of teaser clips in the preview. I was quite content when things were headed that way, starting with Ryuunosuke’s grandiose justification for his homicidal ways. That was some truly “fascinating” drivel, and rather amusing too because I perceived it as such. At no point was I going to take his reasoning seriously and concede that a serial killer has a good reason for killing, but he clearly believed everything he said, so it was fun to hear him out. I really couldn’t help but take his conversation with Caster as comedic, especially not after his ironic statement about how inhumane it was to destroy all the mutilated bodies that they decorated their lair with. Classy.

Assuming it wasn’t anime-original, I really have to hand it to Urobuchi Gen for writing some witty dialogue like that. The same goes for Rider’s attempts to cheer up his “emo” Master, which cleverly masked the somber mood from Waver’s realization that his vision of Rider reaching Okeanos — indication that he had traveled east enough and conquered all the land — never happened. I dare say it was kind of “cute” to see Waver not want to pry into Rider’s past and look up the history of Alexander the Great instead, because he went all tsundere when Rider said he could’ve just asked him directly. The two of them have always had a surprisingly considerate dynamic, but it’s not often we see Waver concerned about Rider’s feelings. It may have been unnecessary since nothing seems to get Rider down, but the fact that Waver felt bad about Rider dying in his early thirties did make it easier to cut him some slack about his self-loathing. Rider on the other hand deserves credit for trying to cheer Waver up, even though he’s not very good at it. (That easily misunderstood hug didn’t help either.)

In comparison, Saber may be somewhat dull, but her Iri-like driving skills kind of make up for it. I did find it odd how Rider still referred to her as the “King of Knights” after saying that he no longer acknowledges her as a real king, but Saber did have a cool moment afterward that was deserving of the title. As for all these temporary alliances that Saber agrees to, I see them as great opportunities for Servants to work together, but also as a potential problem in the future because I’m willing to bet Kiritsugu could care less about respecting any alliances that she makes. I assume this one will be okay though, as the preview suggests that Archer will be sent to help out with Caster too. From the sound of things, he’s reluctant to use his most powerful Noble Phantasm “Ea”, which he only likes to use against opponents he deems worthy.

* I won’t be including any final impressions because this series clearly isn’t over yet. I also decided NOT to consider it for this year’s Best of Anime post, since it lacks any sort of conclusion that would justify treating it as a separate entity from the second half airing in spring. In fact, I fully intend to number the second season’s episodes from 14 onwards.

A cliffhanger ending for the first part of a 2-core series. So far with 6 of 7 servants still alive and with the remaining half just 13 episodes, I say I expect more battles than what this first season offers which more often than not focus on heavy dialogue scenes. Great animation and music for a good franchise along with wonderful characters. I expect more from this series in the next core. But since it ended as it is:

It is not meant to be some spectacular season finale ending, they are merely splitting the show in half to ensure high quality in season 2. I see no reason to lower the score for this reason besides you being retarded.

I certainly praised Fate Zero, I merely give a 6 for enjoyment because of the cliffhanger, there is no offensive on my comment as it is. And besides even popular sites such as Mal acknowledge it as season 1. And many other people will rate it also the way I rated it.

Why is Ghoststalker’s comment retarded ? He/She merely stated his/her opinion. a 6 is given for the ending so what ? 40 thumbs down for an opinion ? Yes I think the 6 could of been higher and the overall rating probably a point higher but calling his/her opinion retarded is just overdoing it. If that’s the case everyones opinion is retarded here

Anyway Divine you did an awesome job blogging this first half and I look forward to the second half coming soon. Keep up the spectacular work

@Ghostalker IMHO adding a scoring system on a review is always bad. Because right now people see review scores something like this:
10 is Excellent
9.5 is Great
9 is Good
8 is Average
8 below is CRAP!
and 11 is Awesome, but there are no perfect anime.

I don’t understand how people bother using a 10-point scoring system if all they do is score between 5-10 with 10 being perfect and 5 being utter crap. Why bother with 1-4 then, you might as well score it from 1-5. Whenever I do scorings I do its always:

I’m no novice in rating shows, in fact I’m always doing it, I’ve also written at least 16 reviews already in popular sites like MAL and Anime-source, I pattern my rating the way MAL does it, it’s like this:

@CrystalArc Because a lot people are obsessed with numbers and high-score, and they will always go look for a good review of something they want to believe is good and just go and ignore the others. People like to use confirmation bias on every-way possible, and I for one is also guilty of doing it.

Actually I’m not bothered with the thumbs down, because the problem with Fate Zero is the fact that “technically” the series is split in 2 parts, which many considered as a separate series, hence e.g. in sites like MAL which I made my rating, it is a separate series hence separate ratings. What I post above merely reflects my overall opinion that reflects the first part and how it ended.

Also, the second 13 episodes will not be called Fate ZERO but Fate ZERO 2nd season(?), unless changes are made.

Overall, I enjoy the first half. They better save up those money to increase the quality of the 2nd half, or else the long wait (3 Month, why not just 1?!?!) is not worth it. And I mean the quality for ALL the eps of the 2nd half !!

That’s a interesting image, and since his GoB holds many treasures does that mean that “that” is very, I mean very delicious?! If so I want some of it XD.
Again, Rider is the BEST Servant in the Show!!! I love his character soooo much. Show Spoiler ▼

I will be very sad in April and see him die, since according to F/SN he did not live until the end.

Was it just me or did Rider just set off a few death flags? I’d hate to come back to this series after 4 months and have him dying in the first few episodes.

It seems that this season was all about the characters while the next will be more action oriented. I really enjoyed everything here (except that damn cliffhanger), but I sometimes wonder what is going on in Urobuchi Gen’s mind. Who can create a character that justifies serial killing and mutilation as a form of worship?

Urobuchi has a unique mind. What i love about ryunosuke’s speech about God is that he’s practically breaking the fourth wall: when he talks about god loving Hope and courage, but also loving screams and blood, he is also describing Urobuchi’s writing style, who is the “God” of this series. If you look at ryunosukes speech as a meta speech about storytelling and Urobuchi, its even more interesting. As for how Urobuch can create such horrors, he doesnt seem to like it much himself. read this authors note from Urobuchi:

That only thing more glorious than the cliffhanger is the rage it generated among the fans. Ufotable officially has its viewers by the balls now. I can definitely see the massive hype once it returns in April. That’s what you call genius marketing. I’m actually thankful that I read the novels or I would have been raging as well.

As for the episode, I just enjoy the dynamics of Team Rider. It just fun to watch them have an actual friendship when everybody else is all gloomy and broody. I really don’t care for Team Casters, largely because they are just a bunch of psychopaths. I did get a chuckle at their dialogue though, you’d think it would be profound except they are really alot less complicated than that.

I am actually really glad that they didn’t sacrifice the source material just to spice up the end of the first half and feed the fanboys who only care about action. This is not the end to Fate Zero season 1, this is just a pause in the overall story of Fate Zero. This episode was very faithful to the novel and i had a feeling they would end the first half here. My only problem was that they did not really show much of Wavers dream about Rider. In the novel, it is a vision of Riders life and conquest, and how people began to flock to his charisma and dream. They cut it down greatly, which is understandable, if disappointing. I am glad that they did introduce the concept of “Oceanus” and how it ties into Riders dream and life.

Once again a minor detail was not really explained, that changes the way the situation is viewed. This isn’t Lancer/Saber/Rider VS Caster, this is Lancer/Saber/Rider VS Sea Demon. In the novel its explained that Caster has not “powered up” or somehow gotten stronger then before, its just that he’s doing something even crazier then previously. Any mage good at summoning can call a super powerful Cthulu demon like the one Caster has summoned. The reason they don’t however, is because only the most incredibly powerful mage would have any chance of controlling it. Caster however, doesn’t care about controlling it. He is just calling the strongest Demon he can and letting it do whatever it wants to with Zero (lol) restrictions.

This detail changes the scene, because it makes it clear that the monster is in control here, not Caster. The only thing that demon will do is kill everything around it, very quickly. That’s why the Saber, Rider and Lancer agree to team up, because this is a crisis, not just a new fight with Caster.

P.S. To those worrying about the lack of action, rest assured. This is the start of a huge, major battle, and we will have LOTS of action in the second half. I know 3 months is a long ass wait, but patience is a virtue and it will pay off big time when Fate Zero continues in April.

So F/Z decide to give us a Freaking cliffhanger for xmas, OUCH!
But then again, the trill of waiting for the next episode and the excitement you get when it’s finally release……..and the disappointment you get when it turns out bad (joke!), is kinda fun.
I’ve been in worse….School Days, Madoka, Code Geass(freaking 1yr) so yeah 3 months is nothing.(He says as he delete his copy of the novel and pray for the next batch of anime to be awesome.)

This seriously needs to be nominated for best anime of 2012, because I’ll be damned if anything can top this next year. I’ll gladly be wrong of course, it means better animes to watch.

Ending was pretty epic for a cliffhanger. I honestly underestimated Caster’s abilities. Summoning a monstrosity that requires almost all other servants working together to defeat, he might as well be able to steamroll every single one of them in a 1 on 1.

Kariya is going to pointlessly attack Tokiomi who just sits there as Kariya zergs his worms at Tokiomi’s fire barrier.

On the other hand, there’s going to be an epic dogfight between Berserker and Gilgamesh with Berserker possessing a F-15 and Gilgamesh some giant golden flying ship thingy. Then Berserker gets shot down by Lancer and then goes Cry Some Moar! on Saber.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WHptG35EWU

Right, Im saying though, if he could’ve summoned something that powerful from the get go, he could have done that and just went on a town rampage to begin with. I mean hell, even I know he’d be no match against a any other other servants in physical combat.

Both Alexander the Great and Gilgamesh were bi men who prefer the companionship of a Special Man over that of women (they could sleep with them out of lust, but never measure up to Enkidu or Hephaestion.

Hah! Come now Macedonia bordered with Greece, and ancient Greeks INVENTED homoseksualism ^^ I daresay no one in his army would have raised even an eyebrow if he started to sleep with men. Besides, kings make the rules- not obey them.

Ancient morality was pretty different compared to modern christian morality. Womens were regarded as something beautiful, but to “conquer” them was not considered manly. On the other hand, to “conquer” another man…

And yeah, Alexander was bi. He basically nailed everything he found without distinctions.

Every single one of the servants are so likable other than assassin since it doesn’t have much of a personality and is used as a pawn. Archer and Rider are just pure awesome in ever way, Saber is less awesome but still better than most female leads in anime, Caster is interesting and funny in his own psychotic way and Lancer and Berserker have orgasmic fight scenes. God I love this show.

That aside, my respect for Rider are even greater than before. I actually expected him to throw a rage or being angry when he found out about the inaccuracy regarding him in the history book, but I’m even more surprised to see that he didn’t care about it. And while it didn’t work, I really admire his effort to cheer up Waver. I mean come on, who he even admit that he’s an idiot. That’s kinda unexpected given of his attitude in previous episodes.

It’s not so surprising on Caster’s case. Gilles de Rais was really close to Jeanne D’Arc and actually a religious nobleman (who was quite handsome, I may add) before he descended into sin and madness after she was burned at stake. He was enraged that “God” took her “memories” and was beomoning about that.

I personally can’t wait for his “moment of clarity” before his death (mostly because he seems cleansed from his Mental Pollution). Watching the golden light of Excalibur crystallizing his own ideal, the one he once fought for as a valiant knight with Jeanne.

Well, I would have liked it ended with the death of Caster, but this was a good way to make me RAGE AT THE CLIFFHANGER.

Oh man, Type-Moon. You magnificent bastards.

The other downside is that FZ was pretty much the one out of the four shows (or five, now that I’m watching GC for teh lulz) that I found myself completely engrossed in. I guess I’ll just pay more attention to Mirai Nikki or Gundam…

It was nice to see that Waver is having more screen time. To be honest, I’m sure many can agree that Waver is more suitable to be the main character for this anime. And I also agree with Divine that this season LACKED a good conclusion, I mean show a good Noble Phantasm for heaven’s sake to make a conclusion.

btw, i love that Rider jokes that his luck is high, cause he’s right! Each servant in the war has stat rankings like strength, speed, luck, etc. Rider has luck rank A+
…way better then poor Lancer’s luck rank E

No!! You have to be joking. what kind of chistmas gift is this, they cut in the best possible. I expect an amazing second part after this!. By the way, if you haven´t notices the grimoire that Caster uses for summoning those abominations is known as the Prelati’s Spellbook: Text of the Sunken Spiraled City, being the true name R’lyeh Text, this book is based in the Cthulhu Mythos of H.P. Lovecraft. The man is one of the most prominent horror writers in human history and his stories the most terrefying you could ever read, the monsters summon by Caster are exactly like the ones depicted in his stories. R’lyeh is the underwater city where the true abomination Cthulhu sleeps awaiting the time of the of all.

With caster and his master talking just before waver and rider’s, i find it interesting that caster actually fits what rider said about finding his own reason to fight and having an ambition as large as the world.

Good to see saber has her confidence back. I don’t see caster surviving this battle. With 3 heroes and a potential 4th in archer from the shorts, its going to be difficult for him to mount any sort of escape since the monster is undoubtedly going to be taken down (or fate zero would end in the next 3-4 episodes)

I’m going to go and create spoiler free expectations the moment that 2nd season hits the tube: (will spoiler tag just in case you feel that you’ll get spoiled)
1.) Saber/Rider/Lancer vs Caster (well we kinda know that but there will be more fights happening in this single scene…)Show Spoiler ▼

After that, I believe we will have two more fights till book three ends.

It’s Urobochi who wrote this series so expect a bunch of death flags, besides we have an idea who will be left in the after math of the war already given fate/stay night’s plot. What matters is how they went out =D (like Zack’s Crisis Core)

also, i must say, iskandar’s moments in the show were really heartwarming and touching but it kinda raise some death flags in me (just like what happened in madoka). made me tear a bit. and rider pulling in behind saber in his chariot and his reactions… just plain cute

The second half is not a seperate series, it is the same show. They are simply pausing the story till april so they can keep up the quality of the episodes and not give us more crap faces like they did in episode 11. In fact, i would not even call this “season 1″, or the next part season 2, as the story really can’t be split in half like that.

Did assassin come back with a whole number of the army? Kirei Kotomine became more dangerous after Archer helped him find out his reason for battle. He could be the man stand still when final battle begin.

Yup Rider is just THAT awesomeeee!!!! And a plus also to have waver acting all tsuntsun on rider, too. The dialogues in this series are always very good&well-written(that conversations of caster&ryuunosuke’s are also amusing in it’s own way), kudos to Urobuchi in making this story^-^ You’ve no idea how awesome is the second half going to be(you should read the novel after the anime finish/if you have spare time). Oh..and don’t forget to prepare a box of tissues just in case for the second half.

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